Top Stories - Topics from July, 2011

This opinion piece appeared in the 7.26.2011 print/e-edition of The Herald-Gazette. It is posted here for open commenting. Do you feel safe in our community?We will not let this thread deteriorate into a platform for ripping those who are, have been or would be sheriff!

Yet another shooting. Yet another death!

It is time to face the facts. Barnesville-Lamar County has a serious crime problem and it is growing worse by the day.
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The first two of three county budget hearings, required by state law because the millage rate is slated to go up by .86 mills, drew few people in the morning and a scattering more for the evening hearing.
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Phillip Foster pleaded guilty to murder and other charges last week in connection with the February, 28, 2009 murder of Bubba Milner at Eagle One Car Wash on I-75 at the Hwy. 36 exit. Milner lived in Lamar County and worked the overnight shift at the truck wash
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A man was shot to death at Jr. Food Mart on College Drive in Barnesville late Thursday after an altercation.

UPDATE: The Herald-Gazette has learned from sources the victim in the shooting was Christopher Martin Stepanski, 26 of Holmes Street in Barnesville. His body has been taken to the GBI crime lab for autopsy.
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A veteran Clayton Co. deputy shot and killed during a traffic stop today lived here in Pike. He has been identified as Ricky Daly, 55, of Wrightsburg Way in Zebulon. Daly once worked at the Pike Co. sheriff's office.

His son is a lieutenant with the Fayette Co. sheriff's office.

UPDATE: The suspect in the shooting, 17-year-old Jonathan Bun, was arrested at about 8:30 p.m. Wednesday. His mother was also picked up.
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With a deficit of $142,000, Lamar County commissioners are advertising an $8 million 2012 budget that will include a one-mill hike in property taxes to cover decreases in the tax digest and an increase in exemptions. Hearings on the proposed tax increase began today.
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A proposed 9.47% increase over the rollback millage rate is being considered by the Lamar County board of commissioners, but the hope is that more budget cuts will accomplish the same result as would the tax increase, reported chairman Jay Matthews.
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With several more budget meetings to go before an estimated $800,000 more is pared from its budget, Lamar County commissioners hope to have the document ready to go to the state by Aug. 1.
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While still incomplete, the Lamar County board of assessors approved the 2011 tax digest, which shows an estimated drop of $46.9 million in overall taxable value. It now goes to the tax commissioner’s office where automobiles, mobile homes and timber values will be added.
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